The Dozan wa Awtar choir works very quickly and efficiently to find, practice, and most importantly perform new music to Amman’s choir-loving community. There aren’t very many choirs in Jordan, and most of them are through schools and are gender-segregated. This leads to me jokingly describing Dozan wa Awtar as the “best” or “national” choir of Jordan, although unfortunately King Abdullah hasn’t yet had time to bestow that honor on us (I’ll be writing him weekly letters until he does, though!)

We had the Christmas Concert in December, the Easter Concert in April, and now we’ve just finished off our third concert session for the summer months. As always, I think we all sounded great, but I’m embarrassed to say that I definitely don’t think I was completely up to snuff for my performance because of my two week absence last month. For the first couple practices after I returned, I just sat quietly in the corner and attempted to figure out what everyone was singing, especially in our French and Arabic pieces. The men’s Arabic solo piece for example, Ya Ghazyel, was so tough for me to decipher that I only finished learning the words and bouncy style of singing the day before the concerts started.

Probably the most fun piece to sing was Ascot Gavotte, from the musical “My Fair Lady,” with Julie Andrews and Rex Harrison. For this piece, Shireen gave us free reign in props and stage acting. We have three English choir members as well, and they gave us tips on proper pronunciation and carriage for ladies and gentlemen attending the Ascot races in the early 20th century. One of the ladies in the choir provided a fine Panama hat for me to wear, and Yanal (always the smooth guy) had a full vest, derby hat, and cigar. We made him lose the cigar for the children’s concert on Friday, though.

I think I’ve never had so much fun with the men’s solo pieces as I did with our trio this time around. Besides Ya Ghazyel, we also had What Shall We Do With a Drunken Sailor and Vive L’Amour. I was able to act out a lot more on stage with those last two than usual, especially because Shireen had given the women leeway to “be sassy” for their medley of solo songs, including “Wishin’ and Hopin’.” Both of our English-language pieces were drinking songs, and we mutually agreed that we should treat them as such, although Shireen gave us a head-shake at my suggestion that we should whip out flasks in the last bar of Drunken Sailor (although Yanal and Nedy provided perfectly-timed hiccups instead).

The ladies sing "Annie Laurie" as the DVD company films them

We’re having the same DVD company make the videos as last time in the Easter Concert. For both that concert and this one, the second performance was professionally filmed, and a few weeks later Shireen distributed the completed DVDs to us, complete with menus and credits. Unfortunately, I don’t know if we’ll ever see a performance from the Christmas Concert, but I haven’t given up hope yet. When we get our DVDs from this concert, I’ll try to rip out a copy of the Ascot Gavotte performance and post it here.

In other news, it’s hard for me to believe that summer is fully upon us now and I have less than a month and a half remaining as a teacher here in Jordan before my contract officially ends. My students in this session are even more question-filled than any previous group, to my delight, and I think I’ll be able to go farther with their education if their intensity continues at this pace. As always, I enjoy getting to know all of them and learning about their experiences in Iraq

Good news from Qayssar, my former student and first translator – he emailed me last week with the happy news that he’d been successfully resettled in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. On that same subject of translators moving on with their lives, Wamidh is now in more and more monthly meetings with the refugee resettlement programs in Amman – it’s very possible that he may be heading for the States as well soon after our last session together ends. Although his meetings have required him to be absent from translating for me, but Mohammad J, the sheikh from the previous session, is usually available even on short notice by telephone for him to come in and save the day. I’ve put the graduation photos from the last two classes up on the wall next to the whiteboard, and Mohammad enjoys the questions that my current students ask him about how his class experience was, and if they’ll be put up on the wall too.

Last week, all Iraqi students were provided with free handmade blankets and basic necessities from relief agencies

Well, it’s a beautiful day outside, a downright balmy 29’C and I should clean out the house a little before heading over to church. Church is a lot more lonely with all my friends from the Academy gone back to America on vacation, but at least I can continue to make a joyful noise to the Lord!